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Rockford beer war one of many U.S. legal squabbles over beer names

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By Brian Leaf

If they build it, will they come? Thatís the question reporter Brian Leaf answers by following the stuff that cities, county and states build to attract and keep factories, jobs, stores, airplanes, colleges, tourists and residents to burgs and
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If they build it, will they come? Thatís the question reporter Brian Leaf answers by following the stuff that cities, county and states build to attract and keep factories, jobs, stores, airplanes, colleges, tourists and residents to burgs and Ďburbs throughout the region.

A beer battle by two breweries claiming the name Rockford Brewing Co. name is one if a growing number spats around the country involving trademarks for beers and brands.Last month the Rockford, Ill., brewer sued the Rockford, Mich., brewery over the name here in U.S. District Court, six weeks after the Michigan brewer sent a cease and desist letter about the name to the Illinois brewer.The local brewer, which for now is open only on Fridays and Saturdays, anchors the $12 million Prairie Street Brewhouse redevelopment at 200 Prairie St. The local brewer says the name was first used in 1849 when John Peacock opened the "Rockford Brewery" on the shore of the Rock River, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Rockford. The suit argues the name belongs here.It's more common to see brewers sue for specific beer names, not over the name of a brewery.Dan Christopherson, an attorney who practices beverage law in Oakton, Va., said that projections are that there will soon be 3,000 brewery operations in the U.S. They may have up to 30 brands they want to name, which has made it more likely that someone who doesn't do the research will pick a moniker that someone else has already claimed."Terms related to beer have been run into the ground," said Christopherson.And that's why you're seeing legal action. Christopherson said many potential conflicts are handled administratively when a company challenges a trademark application."Most of the time they end up settling, and most of the time the bigger brewery tends to out resource the other smaller company," he said. In Connecticut, craft brewer City Steam is being sued by the California maker of Anchor Steam beer over use of the name.In Virginia, Strangeways Brewing Co. and Massachusetts-based homebrew shop Strange Brew went to court over the name Strange Brew, but settled and agreed that both parties could continue the using the name.In Lexington, Ky., local brewer West Sixth Brewing was sued last year by Magic Hat, over a beer logo that used the number "6." West Sixth implied Magic Hat was using its national muscle to bully the local beer maker and called it's lawsuit silly. "Their federal trademark is simply for the text "# 9", and our logo contains neither a '#' nor a '9'. (our favorite part of their argument is where they call a 6 an "inverted 9". Yeah, and did you know that a "p" is just an inverted "d"? They're totally the same letter!)"The two sides settled last year but not until after West Sixth gave Magic Hat a social media spanking,